MD Anderson, Orlando Health to part ways after 23 years

December 16, 2013|By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel

Ending a 23-year relationship with the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Orlando Health announced Monday that it will partner with the University of Florida to restructure and rebrand its cancer center.

On Jan. 31, it will officially become UF Health Cancer Center at Orlando Health, said officials from Orlando Health and University of Florida Health.

Together, they will become one of the top five comprehensive cancer centers in the state for patient volume, said Dr. David Guzick, president of UF Health, a ranking that puts them in the same league as Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, he said.

"The UF Health Cancer Center at Orlando Health is not an affiliation like the one we are concluding today. It is a full partnership," said Orlando Health Board Chair Dianna Morgan.

The main difference is the two entities will work together as equals, and Orlando Health won't pay an annual licensing fee to access MD Anderson consultants.

Though neither side would say what that fee was, that savings is one the center should pass onto patients. "I'm very confident that's what we'll be able to do in the next couple of months," said Dr. Wayne Jenkins, president of Orlando Health Physician Partners.

The Texas-based MD Anderson is working to expand nationwide, while Orlando Health wants to take a statewide focus, said Dan Fontaine, senior vice president of business affairs for University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

"Eventually, it became obvious that for good reasons our different goals might not take us to the same place," he said.

Cancer is on the rise in Florida. According to recent studies by the National Cancer Institute, Florida now has the second-largest cancer rate in America. Cancer has surpassed heart disease as a leading cause of death in the Sunshine State.

"A need of this magnitude requires an innovative strategy for meeting this growing demand for cancer treatment and care," Morgan said.

"Cancer is not a disease like smallpox or polio that can be vanquished by a single event," said UF President Bernie Machen. "It has many manifestation. Only by coming together with many disciplines can scientists and doctors expect to be its equal. This is our best model for ending cancer."

The new center will have 170 cancer physicians and scientists, or double the number of the current Orlando cancer center, and will see 10,000 new patients a year, said Guzick. Currently UF Health and MD Anderson-Orlando each sees about 5,000 new patients a year.

Localpatients will continue to receive their cancer care from the same Orlando Health specialists.

However, they will have access to more specialists, to drugs not previously available and to more opportunities for personalized cancer care based on genetics, said Dr. Mark Roh, current president of MD Anderson-Orlando. Roh will become president of the new entity.

In helping to launch the new collaboration, Dr. Phillips Charities gave a $1.5 million grant, specifically to develop personalized care through genetic research, Machen announced.

"Personalized cancer care involves genetic exploration of tumors and appropriate chemotherapy treatments based on that analysis," said Machen.

The ending is "emotional," said Roh, who has a long history with MD Anderson. "We're honored to have been the first affiliate of this renowned institution and will continue to practice cancer care based on its proven principles."

"They got us started and helped us recruit physicians," said Jenkins. "We outgrew what they could provide us, which does nothing to negate all they did for us."

Orlando Health began its affiliation with MD Anderson in 1991. Not everyone thought it was a good move.

"I always thought it was strange that we had to establish a relationship with a university outside of Florida," said Steve Lester, an Orlando radiation oncologist who is not involved with Orlando Health or UF.

"When a university system steps outside its state boundaries it is for one reason: to capture referrals. There is no reason for patients to look outside Florida, when we have perfectly good doctors in this state."